Saina Nehwal wins Philippine Open Badminton

New Delhi, May 28 (UNI) Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman to win a four star badminton tournament with a 21-15, 22-20 victory over Julia Xian Pei Wong of Malaysia in the final of the Philippine Open in Manila today.

The unseeded Indian, ranked 86th in the world, had a dream run in the four star tournament pulling off major upsets including the one against top seed and world number four Xu Huaiwen of Germany in the quarter-finals before packing off Japanese rival Ai Goto 21-19, 20-22, 21-14 in the semis.

Speaking to UNI from Hyderabad, Saina's coach and former All England champion Pullela Gopichand said her fitness regime under a new trainer paid off.

''She has a great future. Much before this win, we had assessed her potential during last year's Asian Badminton Championship and at couple of other major events. She is very fast and her reach is fine with good shots selection and execution. What she needed was fitness. For that we hired a trainer John Thomas last year. That training is now fetching results.'' Saina won the junior title in Czech Open three years ago, was a member of Indian team which won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Bendigo, Australia in 2004 and then was part of bronze-medal winning Indian team in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in March this year where she beat then defending champion Li Li of Singapore in the team event.

Gopichand said his 16-year old ward is a tough nut to crack and as she gains experience will become mentally stronger and achieve more laurels.

Saina will be up against stronger opponents in the six star Indonesian Open which starts from Wednesday. She will also take part in Singapore Open (June 5-11) and Malaysian Open (June 13-18).

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